The Perception and Efficiency of Labour Supply Choices by Pigeons

Peter B Morgan and Don Tustin

Economic Journal, 1992, vol. 102, issue 414, 1134-48

Abstract: Hunter and Davison (1982) observed.how pigeons supplied labor by pecking on discs connected to devices allowing access to food. Both the devices and the forces needed to depress the discs were varied widely. This paper models the pigeons' choice problems as a neo-classical type of labor allocation problem. It estimates the paths containing the least effortful allocations of pecks for given total rates of access to food and compares the subjects' actual choices for proximity to the efficient choices. The estimated efficiency levels are high, supporting the neo-classical model. Also shown is that the neo-classical model predicts that the subjects' behavior should be consistent with the melioration model of choice, an alternative model of choice advocated by some psychologists. Copyright 1992 by Royal Economic Society.

Date: 1992
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